


sick!five+prompt

by TUA (IAMS)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Prompt Fill, Protective Siblings, Sick Number Five | The Boy, Sickfic, stubborn five
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAMS/pseuds/TUA
Summary: prompt: right in the height of everything coming together, when his siblings need him most, Five catches a cold. cue him insisting he's fine and trying to brush off every time he sneezes and jumps a few feet in front of everyone. eventually he has to give in to the others who only want to make sure he's alright.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) & Everyone
Comments: 10
Kudos: 264





	sick!five+prompt

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on tumblr mynumberfivethings as a prompt fill! :)

“I’m fine.” Five insists, for what is probably the hundredth time now, though his nose is a brighter red than Rudolf the reindeers and he keeps swaying on his feet after every blink from one location to the next. 

They’re close. 

He can feel it. 

Now is _not_ the time to take a breather, not when the apocalypse is exactly six days away. Time is not on their side. Though really, when has it ever been, Five thinks, sniffling miserably. He coughs into the crook of his elbow, grimacing at the painful scratch in his throat. 

Allison frowns. “You’re barely standing, genius. We’ve gotten far for a day’s work, we can reconvene tomorrow and keep going. I really think you need to sit this one out for tonight. We can handle a little surveillance without you, you know.” 

Diego nods in agreement. “Yeah man, you look like straight shit.” 

Five glares at the two of them. “Being that I am technically the oldest I don’t have to listen to you,” he points at Allison and then at Diego, “Or you. So let’s maybe stop wasting so much time jabbering and get to it, shall we?” he forces his mouth into a pressed half grin. 

Diego rolls his eyes. “Whatever, I’m calling shotgun right now. I am not sitting in the back with Luthers’ giant ass.” 

**********************************

Diego, of course, ends up shoulder to shoulder in the backseat next to Luther. With Allison and Five in the front-somehow Allison convinced Five to let her drive at some point. 

Vanya and Klaus decide to scooch into the trunk and Klaus teaches the amnesiac some weird handshake Five is pretty sure is the greeting for his cult members while Diego bitches at Luther to move to his side of the car. 

Allison shushes them all and takes out her binoculars. “Everyone be quiet. The point of a stake out is not to alert your target you’re onto ‘em.” she mutters, wondering how it is she ended up with the only brain cell among all of her siblings. 

Five is glad for the fact that at least Allison seems to be taking this seriously. Diego’s still half focused on the Kennedy assassination. Luther is still reeling from their fathers blunt dismissal. Vanya can barely remember her name. And Klaus…well. Klaus started a fucking cult. 

What else is there to say, really? 

Five pinches the bridge of his nose, attempting to stop that tickle at his nostrils from reaching all the way up, but it’s no use. He sneezes loud enough to startle Allison into dropping her binoculars, and worse still, he manages to teleport himself about two feet outside of the car. 

He lands on his ass on the hard gravel and groans. 

“What the hell was that?” Diego gapes at him after rolling down the window. 

Five grimaces, slowly getting back to his feet. “Nothing. Happens sometimes when I’m sick. It’ll be fine. I’ll try to be more quiet.” He gets back into the vehicle, now achy and exhausted from the impromptu blink. 

Allison stares at him, incredulous. “Five, what the actual fuck.” 

Five shrugs. “What?” he asks, defensively. 

“We were driving like five minutes ago!” she shakes her head. “What if you’d sneezed and freaking teleported outside of a _moving_ car!? I was driving at like at least fifty an hour. Jesus, Five.” 

Five had always been a relatively healthy kid-until the apocalypse, of course-and so it’s not a big surprise that his siblings don’t know that sometimes, when he’s well and truly sick, fever and all, this happens. He loses control of his own abilities momentarily. 

He hates it. 

“It’s not a big deal.” He huffs, leaning back against his seat miserably. “Keep watch. We don’t wanna’ lose ‘em.” 

Allison rolls her eyes. Typical Five. “For someone so smart you really can be an idiot sometimes.” she mutters under her breath. 

Five chooses to ignore her, in favor of focusing on breathing through his mouth, given how congested he is. 

They sit there for a few hours, taking turns with the binoculars, watching for anything that might seem out of the ordinary or suspicious. 

Eventually dusk turns to dawn and still, nothing. 

“God this is so boring, and I hafta’ pee. Can we find a bathroom?” Klaus moans from the trunk. 

Vanya nods in agreement. “If something were going to happen it would have by now, no? My legs are numb.” 

“Yeah, I’m with them. Plus, I’m starving. Let’s get breakfast.” Luther suggests. “There’s a diner nearby that makes the best waffles.” 

Allison gives him a deadpan look. “And I’m sure this diner would happily serve someone like me.” 

Luther grimaces. “Right. Uh, maybe someone else pick?” 

“Gerald’s on 5th and Maine.” Five suggests, blowing his nose in a fruitless endeavor to clear his nostrils. 

“You know about Gerald’s?” Allison blinks at him skeptically. 

“What? They make decent coffee.” 

*****************************************

It’s not exactly odd, the way everyone stares at the group when they gather inside the diner and get settled into a big round booth. It’s six of them-already a big group-and four of them happen to be _very_ white in a not so white part of the neighborhood. 

Despite the looks and the murmuring around them, they do eventually get waited on and served. 

“You’re not eating anything?” Vanya asks Five, when she notices from across the table that all he’s ordered is a cup of coffee, black. 

If he eats anything he might puke, he thinks, but what he says out loud is, “Coffee _is_ food.” He’s hoping the caffeine might help stave the oncoming headache, though he’s well aware that that’s just wishful thinking on his part. 

“I know the end is nigh and all but can we take a nap? I haven’t pulled an all-nighter good and sober in a _while_ ; I’m exhausted.” Klaus complains. 

“I second that.” Luther yawns. 

Five huffs. “We wasted time on the stake out, we can’t afford to waste anymore because someone’s a little sleepy-” 

Allison rolls her eyes. “We can afford a few hours you gremlin. I’m driving us back to Elliots’ after this so we can all rest, and that’s that.” 

Five glares at her from behind his raised cup. “You idiots can do whatever you want, I’m going to-” 

“You’re going to come with us or so God help you I will rumor your tiny ass into taking a damn nap.” Allison leans in with every word, squinting at him from across the table. 

Diego snickers. “Oh shit, she _told_ _you_!” 

Five opens his mouth to say something insulting, and pauses, eyes widening when he realizes a sneeze is oncoming. “Fuck.” he tries to hold it back as best as he can, but it’s not use. He ends up on Luther’s lap at the end of the booth. 

Exhausted and dizzy, he leans into Luther’s chest and sniffles miserably. Thankfully the leap wasn’t too far from his siblings, and even more to their advantage, their table isn’t in view of the other diners, or there would be some interesting questions to be answered. 

Luther frowns and his hand automatically goes up to feel Fives’ forehead. “You’re burning up, man. Like, on _fire_.” 

Allison places down a few bills and leaves a hefty tip before standing up. “That’s it. We’re leaving, c’mon, everyone grab your stuff.” 

Luther’s ‘stuff’ apparently includes a half conscious Five, seeing that he plucks him up off his lap and carries him bridal style out of the diner. The fact that Five doesn’t have enough energy to complain, threaten or free himself is concerning. 

He falls asleep in the car, though his rest is anything but peaceful. Vanya, in the back, tries to soothe the lines on his forehead, whispering comforting nothings-it works with Harlan, she thinks, this can’t be all that different. When they park Luther gently lifts Five out of the vehicle and brings him inside, the rest of their siblings surprisingly quiet as they follow his lead. 

The only time Allison’s seen her brother sleep since he reappeared back into her life was after nearly bleeding out at the Jenkins home. “Set him down on the bed. Klaus, get me a thermometer, would you? And Diego, if you can find some ice packs, we’re probably gonna’ need them to get his temperature down.” 

“Gotcha.” 

“M’fine.” Five wakes up the moment he’s no longer in Luther’s arms. He leans up on his elbows, trying to gather the strength to sit up fully. It’s not really working out for him, though. “We have too much to do.” he complains, willing Luther and Vanya to listen. 

Vanya sits down next to him on the bed and tilts her head. “A few hours of sleep isn’t gonna’ kill you, you know.” she pushes her hand against his chest and he collapses into the mattress easily, despite the lack of force with which she used. “Here.” she hands him a bottle of water. 

Five glares at it. “We’re wasting time.” he insists adamantly, though at this point it comes out a weak rasp. 

Vanya presses her lips together and shrugs. “I still don’t really know a lot about the way our family works or anything like that, but I think we’re all worried about you. I know I am. You seem like you’re usually a force to be reckoned with. But um, right now you kind of just remind me of a two day old kitten.” 

Luther chuckles at the comparison. “Vanya’s right old timer. We’re here. We’re together now. And we’re gonna figure this thing out. But we need you. Which means you need to work on getting better.” 

Five tries to glare at the pair, but even his eyebrows are too tired to cooperate. He coughs instead, groaning when it rattles something inside of his chest. Everything hurts. “Whatever.” he finally succumbs, knowing full well they’re not going to give into his demands anytime soon. And the way he’s feeling at the moment, he can’t see himself blinking away-not unless something tickles his nose. 

As if the thought alone were able to summon it, Five suddenly has a bout of consecutive sneezes. He ends up teleporting onto the stairs, then onto the kitchen table, back to the stairs, and then finally he lands onto the couch in the living room with a _thump,_ his already aching head hitting the arm of the chair. 

“Well shit.” Klaus comments from downstairs, where he’s managed to find a thermometer. “Fivey, honey, ya’ alive up there?” 

“Barely.” he responds, for once honest about his own state of being. He hacks out a cough and curls up on the couch, looking absolutely pitiful. 

Allison brings him a knitted blanket and wraps it around his shoulders, surprised when he doesn’t fuss. “Drink.” she hands him a little cup with a concoction that looks and smells very much like cold medicine. 

Five makes a face at it but doesn’t argue, taking it like a shot. 

Klaus comes over with the thermometer and plops it into his mouth. Five glares at him but doesn’t spit it out, mumbling something incoherent under his breath. “Murder threats aren’t nice, young old man.” Klaus takes the thermometer back and hums. “Oof, one oh two.” 

Diego shows up with two ice packs just then and hands them both to Allison, who makes Five raise an arm so she can stuff one of them under his armpit. “Lay down.” she and Diego help him get into a more comfortable position and she wraps the remaining ice pack in a small towel and then places it over his forehead. “How’s that?” 

Five sighs. He has to admit, the cold does feel nice. Not out loud though. “M’fine. You guys are overreacting.” he coughs. 

“Sure we are.” Allison sweeps his bangs from his face and sighs. “Go to sleep, Five. I promise I’ll wake you up in a few hours and if your fever’s gone down we’ll go save the world, deal?” 

Five leans into the touch without meaning to. “Deal.” 

Before long Five is asleep, eyelids drooping shut, his breathing evening out. 

Allison has to resist her motherly urge to lean down and give him a forehead kiss. Instead she runs her fingers through his hair one last time and gets up. 

She orders everyone in a hushed voice to find a place to sleep and takes first shift watching over Five. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! :)


End file.
